Leah and Rachel were
sisters. Even though Leah was the firstborn we almost always hear her mentioned last.
Usually we hear them referred to as Rachel and Leah, not the
other way around. Probably it is
because we tend to think of Rachel as being a very virtuous woman.
Let's take a look and both sisters and you
judge for yourself if that is true or not.

The Bible tells us that
Rachel was very beautiful while Leah was tender eyed.(Genesis 29:17)Leah was tender eyed; but Rachel was
beautiful and well favoured.Was Rachel so exceptionally beautiful
that no one paid much attention to Leah’s beauty or was Leah rather homely and
plain in appearance?

What is meant by
tender-eyed in relation to Leah?Was
her eyesight weak?Could Leah have worn
glasses by today’s standards?According
to the dictionary the word “tender” can mean a number of things: delicate, weak
or feeble; compassionate, gentle or mild.The Bible does not give an explanation.

I believe that
it had nothing to do with her eyesight but instead with her personality.Leah was very compassionate and had a
delicate spirit.She was easily hurt
but she never let anyone know it.Even
though she was the elder of the two sisters, Rachel received all the
attention.Yet I do not believe
that Leah was the jealous type.Let’s
look at the two sisters and you’ll see what I mean.

We can only imagine the beauty of
Rachel.The Bible says in Genesis 29:20, “And Jacob served seven
years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love
he had to her.”Here was a man who was so taken with the
looks of this girl that he was willing to be a servant of her household for
seven years in order to have her as his wife. This was Jacob’s first mistake.He only saw what was on the outside.The world has a saying, “beauty is only skin deep.”The Bible puts it this way in 1 Samuel
16:7,
“But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his
countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the
LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance,but the LORD looketh on the heart.”Jacob would have been wise to look at Rachel’s heart and not at
her face.

Jacob,
whose name means “deceiver”, was deceived himself.He fell for Rachel’s looks but knew nothing of her personality
until after they were married, and it was too late, as we shall see later.

Jacob’s second mistake was not abiding by the
tradition of his people.It was customary
for the eldest daughter to be married first before any of her sisters could be
married.And then they were usually
married in order of their birth.Jacob
should have worked for Leah in the first place and he would have saved himself
a lot of trouble down the road.

So even though Jacob worked for Rachel he was
given Leah instead, much to his surprise.The Bible records this in Genesis 29:25-29: And it
came to pass, that in the morning, behold, it was Leah: and he said to Laban,
What is this thou hast done unto me? did
not I serve with thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou beguiled me?And Laban
said, It must not be so done in our
country, to give the younger before
the firstborn.Fulfil her week, and
we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet
seven other years.And Jacob did so,
and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.

The third mistake that Jacob made in dealing with
the two sisters was that of favoritism.(Genesis 29:30)And he went in also unto
Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more
than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.Can you
imagine how Leah must have felt?All of
her life since she was born her sister Rachel got all the attention.When Leah marries and thinks she has found
some happiness of her own she finds out that her husband despises her and still
wants her sister instead.So she not
only has to share her husband but continue to take second place to her sister
for the rest of her life.

But God is merciful to her and intervenes on
Leah’s behalf.(Genesis 29:31-35)And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated,
he opened her womb: but Rachel was
barren.And Leah conceived, and
bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Surely the LORD hath
looked upon my affliction; now therefore
my husband will love me.And she
conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because
the LORD hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son
also: and she called his name Simeon.And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi.And she conceived again, and bare a son: and
she said, Now will I praise the LORD: therefore she called his name Judah; and
left bearing.

That’s a minimum of at least 5 years that she bore children for her
husband and she still did not feel that she had his love.How sad for her.Yet we never read anywhere that she complained.She continued to love her husband despite
his feelings toward her.

Rachel on the other hand starts to show her true
nature.She becomes jealous of her sister.This is Rachel’s first sin.(Genesis 30:1-2)And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no
children, Rachel envied her sister;
and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I
in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?We have
already learned in our study of Sarah how much of a reproach to a woman it was
to be barren.And Rachel did not want
to be outdone by her sister.

So Rachel makes the same mistake that
Sarah made.Like Sarah, Rachel gives
her husband her handmaid to have children by her.Rachel’s next sin is “playing” at being God.

(Genesis 30:3-6)And she
said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees,
that I may also have children by her.And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto
her.And Bilhah conceived, and bare
Jacob a son.And Rachel said, God hath
judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore
called she his name Dan.

As if the first two sins are not enough she now
adds a third, selfishness.(Genesis 30:14)And Reuben went in
the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them
unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy
son's mandrakes.

Rachel wants only what is best for
her.She does not care about anybody
else or interested in his or her feelings, even those of her own sister or
husband.

(Genesis 30:15-21)And she said unto her, Is it a small
matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son's
mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore
he shall lie with thee to night for thy son's mandrakes.And Jacob came out of the field in the
evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me;
for surely I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that
night.And God hearkened unto Leah, and
she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son.And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden
to my husband: and she called his name Issachar.And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son.And Leah said, God hath endued me with a
good dowry; now will my husband dwell
with me, because I have born him six sons: and she called his name
Zebulun.And afterwards she bare a
daughter, and called her name Dinah.

After six sons and one daughter Leah is still
looking for real heartfelt love from Jacob.What devotion and faithfulness Leah had to her husband.

Meanwhile God finally gave Rachel a son.(Genesis 30:22-24)And God remembered Rachel, and God
hearkened to her, and opened her womb.And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach: And she called his name Joseph;
and said, The LORD shall add to me another son.

For a while after Joseph was born Rachel
finally stopped whining and complaining and concentrated her efforts on raising
her child.But it is not long before we
see her in action again.

Consider her sins of stealing and lying.When Jacob took his family back to the land
of his birth Rachel takes her father’s idols. Why she did this is not clear.(Genesis
31:19)And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's.She must have known that idolatry was
wrong.Perhaps she was just being
childish.It wouldn’t surprise me after
studying her behaviour so far.Perhapsthey were of value, the Bible doesn’t say what they
were or what they were made of.Perhaps
she wanted to play a trick on her father or get revenge on him for
something.It doesn’t really
matter.The bottom line is she took
what did not belong to her.

(Genesis 31:34-35)Now
Rachel had taken the images, and put them
in the camel's furniture, and sat upon them. And Laban searched all the tent,
but found them not.And she said to her
father, Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee; for the
custom of women is upon me. And he searched, but found not the images.Now she lies to her own father about what
she did.What an immature, selfish,
spoiled brat she turned out to be.

Jacob was not entirely blind to Rachel’s
faults.Look at what he said when she
pestered him about not having children.(Genesis 30:1-2)And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no
children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or
else I die.And Jacob's anger was
kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld
from thee the fruit of the womb?

Yet when Leah bargained with her sister
over some plants and she told Jacob about it he did not rebuke her.(Genesis 30:16)And Jacob came out
of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must
come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes.And
he lay with her that night.

Did Jacob really love Rachel more than Leah?Let’s take a look at the end of their
lives.When Rachel died after the birth
of Benjamin they were travelling from Bethel and nearing Ephrath and Jacob
buried her there.(Genesis 35:16-20)And they journeyed
from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel
travailed, and she had hard labour.And
it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her,
Fear not; thou shalt have this son also.And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that
she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin.And
Rachel died, and was buried in the
way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that
is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day.

But when Leah died he buried her with his
grandparents and his parents.At long
last Jacob showed his love for Leah.(Genesis 49:29-31)And he charged
them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my
fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, In the cave
that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of
Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a
possession of a buryingplace.There
they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his
wife; and there I buried Leah.

I think that over the years Jacob come to love
Leah.She certainly was more congenial
than Rachel.She was more devoted to
her husband than her sister was.Rachel
seemed to only care about herself.Rachel was a bitter, jealous, deceitful and conniving woman all her
life.She was a child that never grew
up.Leah was hated but loved her
husband anyway.She knew that she could
not compete with her sister with her looks so she just took care of Jacob like
a good wife should.She was more mature
than her sister.God always blesses someone who is humble and
someone who is faithful.Leah was
both.She may not have been very
attractive but her heart was right with God and with her husband.Rachel died young but Leah lived a long
life.God blessed Leah in that two of
her sons were important in Jewish history.From Levi came the priestly line and from Judah came the Messianic line.